Moroccan Peacocks

I was chatting with my friend Amanda recently as she was pontificating on how much she loathes her living room in its current state.  Amanda is a graduate student in music education with a full-time job as a music teacher.  She is living in a pretty awesome house not far from  yours truly, in the Boston 'burbs. She shares that space with 2 roommates. With one moving out and taking the art from the living room with her, this frees up the space for some changes.  She was, of course, talking to the right friend when it comes to decorating.  We got to talking and came up with some great concepts and landed on a sort of ultra girlie Moroccan theme with a peacock palette.

I took Friday off from work {With the intention of spending the vast majority of the day at the RMV.  Alas, about 3 minutes later, I was given the boot and told to go the "mail-in" approach.  No help, I tell ya. No help!}  so I had some time to kill and I popped into home depot and grabbed a ton of paint chips and here's what I came up with.

The girls already have a rug that is purple and beige.  So purple will be a heavy influence in the room.  But since we want it to be kind of Moroccan, we will be adding interesting patterns and pops of brighter colors like pink and orange.

Bringing in the idea of the peacock, we're going to tone down all that purple with some jewel toned blue and greens, focusing on teals.

These are the mustard-y, burnt orange-y colors that I pulled out also as accents to couple with the pinks.  I'm thinking throws, pillows and smaller decorative accessories. FUN!

And well Target was just across the street from Home Depot, so why not swing in there? I took some snapshots of some fun goodies that caught my eye as inspiration.

This tall, banana leaf vase would be perfect for some tall branches adorned with some hand crafted flowers. Hmmmmm... I smell a DIY project.

Adoring both of these hurricanes.  Both the rosey pink and punched tin are very romantic and feminine keeping with that aspect of the room that we want. 

Loving this big round basket for the corner of the room.  It would be a great storage space to house throw blankets, books, knitting or not-often-used remotes.

Now, Amanda's living room is not a looming space.  In fact, its quite "petite," shall we say.  What always solves a feeling of claustrophobia in small rooms? Mirrors, mirrors, and more mirrors!!  I love the idea of using these end tables to reflect more light than just a wall mirror.

Speaking of wall mirrors, a Moroccan theme wouldn't be complete without some beautifully intricate patterns and this quatrefoil mirror fits the bill. I wouldn't mind snagging one of these for myself, in fact!

This adorably girlie lamp is on sale and would be a perfect addition to the living room as well! But of course only with a colorful lamp shade like this violet one....

These fun little drinking glasses are from Target's new Calypso Collection.  I love all the colors and their metallic quality.  These could easily be grouped and turned into votive holders on a fun little tray.

So all in all, I think the impromptu trip to Home Depot and Target were both successful.  I certainly was getting ideas for things that work together and don't.  What the costs are that we're up against, what we can make ourselves, and color chips that we can whittle down to our palette.

Happy Monday Morning Nesters! I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Do anything fun? Perhaps took Friday off to got to the RMV/DMV as well?  Dish!